Reckless
by Lys ap Adin
Summary: In which a Fighter and a Sacrifice meet for the first time and Fuji Does Not Approve. Saeki, Yuuta, Fuji.


**Title:** Reckless**  
Characters/Pairings:** Saeki, Yuuta, Fuji**  
Summary:** In which a Fighter and a Sacrifice meet for the first time and Fuji Does Not Approve.**  
Notes:** 1036 words, general audiences. For the prompt "Prince of Tennis, Yuuta/Saeki, cat ears" - crossover with _Loveless_. This was actually originally written for Round 3 of Prompt Battle at anime_manga on Dreamwidth, but I totally forgot to post it elsewhere archiving. So here we are! It's been cleaned up a bit, but no real changes beyond the cosmetic.

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**Reckless**

The first time Saeki Koujirou met his Fighter, Fuji Yuuta's ears were laid flat against his head, his tail was fluffed out to approximately three times its normal dimensions, and he was all but hissing. This, Koujirou came to find out later, was the normal state of affairs whenever Yuuta had cause to be around his brother. But he didn't know that at the time. All he knew at that particular moment was that there was a skinny kid with a glare who looked like he was about ready to claw the eyes out of Fuji Shuusuke, the school's - well, there was no one word that adequately summed Fuji up, which was half the problem with him, Koujirou thought privately. It was impossible to box Fuji in neatly, and Koujirou just _wished _that this was the first time he'd seen someone react to Fuji by bristling.

Something ought to be done though, and goodness knew Fuji wasn't going to do it, which left it to Koujirou. "Hey, hey," he said, jovial, stuffing his hands into his pockets and sauntering over to the two of them. "What's up?"

One of Fuji's ears swiveled, delicately, at Koujirou's interruption. Koujirou didn't mind much; he was pretty sure that he and Fuji were friends, however fey Fuji managed to be at times. "Saeki," Fuji said, finally, and gestured. "May I introduce my brother? His name's Yuuta and he's just arrived. Yuuta, this is Saeki Koujirou."

A brother? Fuji Shuusuke had a _brother_? Koujirou looked at Yuuta with great interest, since whatever else Fuji was, he was certainly one of the school's great prodigies. Yuuta's expression just turned darker at Fuji's introduction. He split his glare between them when Koujirou stuck out his hand and said, "Pleased to meet you."

Yuuta didn't respond until Fuji said his name, gently reproving. Then he gave his brother another dirty look, but Fuji was clearly waiting with all the patience in the world. Finally Yuuta huffed. "Yeah, whatever, nice to meet you," he grumbled, and shook Koujirou's hand.

Koujirou had speculated, as he expected everyone did, about what it would be like to meet his Fighter. He'd heard all the whispered rumors about what it was supposed to be like. It was supposed to be finding one's other half, being completed, achieving balance, and a whole bunch of other metaphors, some of which verged on the pornographic. What it actually ended up being was a shock like the jolt of a dislocated joint falling back into place, aching and right all at the same time. Heat flared up his arm from where Yuuta's fingers gripped his, and unfurled on his forearm where his name - their name - revealed itself for the first time.

"What the fucking _fuck_?" Yuuta demanded. Koujirou would have sworn that even his ears had managed to fluff out - the human ones, too, not just the cat ones. Yuuta stepped backwards, but he hadn't actually released Koujirou's hand and ended up dragging him forward, too. "What the _fuck_ is that? What the fuck is going on here?"

Koujirou, meanwhile, was inspecting the curl of script on his forearm. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, not to anyone in particular. "Our name is _Reckless_?" He guessed that was better than one of the names that got gossiped about, like the pair so incompetent that their name had been "Gormless." But really, Reckless? _Really_? That just didn't seem fair.

Abruptly he became aware that Fuji was staring at him, eyes gone very, very calm and still in that way he got whenever he was trying to decide whether he was going to take someone apart or not. "You're my brother's Sacrifice?"

"Uh," Koujirou said, over the sound of Yuuta's muttered, "No seriously, what the fucking fuck is going on here?" He held out his arm for Fuji to see. "It sure looks that way."

Cool blue eyes raked over the name staring out from Koujirou's arm - and Yuuta's arm, too, and he still hadn't let go of Koujirou's hand, but that was okay, Koujirou thought that he kind of liked the way their hands slotted together - and then over Koujirou himself. "So I see," Fuji said, after a moment that lasted for approximately ten years. "I'll leave the two of you to get better acquainted."

He gave them a clipped sort of nod and stalked away. The only sign that he was annoyed was in the way the tip of his sandy-brown tail twitched as he went.

Koujirou realized that he'd been holding his breath and let it out in a whoosh. Then Yuuta jerked his arm and demanded his attention. "No, I mean really, what in the hell is going on here?" He sounded peeved, but when Koujirou looked, his ginger-colored ears were unfolding themselves, lifting up and pricking forward as he eyed Koujirou. His tail was smoothing out, too, and curled in a curious, questioning sort of way.

He still hadn't let go of Koujirou's hand, but it was starting to feel pretty comfortable. Easy, even, which was one mercy, given the way Fuji had looked at Koujirou like he'd thought Koujirou had stolen something from him.

But that was something to worry about later. "So, uh," Koujirou said, and rubbed his free hand on the back of his neck; hadn't anyone given Yuuta an orientation? Or was he really that newly-arrived? Considering that his confusion was nearly palpable, Koujirou guessed not. Maybe that had been what Fuji had been doing. "Has anyone told you what a Fighter and a Sacrifice are?"

"No," Yuuta said, frowning.

Hoo, boy. Koujirou rubbed the back of his neck some more. Man, this was going to be an interesting time, in the proverbial sense. "Well, I guess we can start there and work the rest out as we go."

And then Yuuta startled him by giving him a brief smile. "Is there any other way to do it?"

"Hah! Yeah, not really, I guess," Koujirou said, grinning back automatically. Then he realized what he'd said and snorted at himself. So maybe "Reckless" was more fitting than he'd initially thought.

And he failed to be surprised when further acquaintance with Yuuta proved him right about that after all.

**end**

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